The Demolition Men

After being discovered as the fastest scorer in the history of Test cricket last year, Adam Gilchrist has earned a rare accolade in one-day cricket. Twenty leading contemporary bowlers rated him as the most destructive and intimidating one-day batsman.

In a poll, carried out by The Wisden Cricketer magazine, the bowlers, including Harbhajan Singh, Brett Lee, Muttiah Muralitharan, put the Australian on top of their nightmare list, even though Gilchrist's strike rate of 94.98 is not the best in ODIs. In fact, it is 12th best.

Two batsmen in the most feared list, Shahid Afridi (108.04) and Virender Sehwag (95.41), score faster than him. But Gilchrist has a batting average of 35.55 in 209 matches to complement it, which is higher than any of the batsmen with strike rates better than him.

Brian Lara (2nd) and Sachin Tendulkar (6th) also score on their strike rates alone. It is the overpowering presence that these two, long debated as the best batsmen of their generation, bring to the game that make them a bowler's nightmare.